Revit Renaming and Renumbering with Ideate BIMLink, a COBie Example

One of the more tedious and labor-intensive BIM tasks confronting architects and engineers is the act of renumbering or renaming Revit elements. We've had customers who require that all of the system families, for example, are prefixed with their company name. So instead of "Wall: 1-HR" we need "Wall: ABC_1-HR." Likewise, even simple design changes can set off a chain reaction that requires significant renumbering of details, views, or equipment. Many times furnishings, fixtures, and equipment need to be renumbered in the middle of a project because new rooms or floors have been added, and the equipment numbering needs to align with the room and floor numbering schemas.

Naming and numbering tasks can also be driven by an owner requirement for external database compatibility. The COBie specification, which is now mandated for federal government projects in the US, is a prime example of this. For those of you not familiar with COBie you can learn more at the Whole Building Design Guide website. The COBie Guide* makes it clear that "During design, the Architect shall be responsible to resolve all conflicts in duplicative naming by their own staff and all consulting engineers."

This sounds like a very daunting task but with Ideate BIMLink you can turn a day-long project into a (5) minute task. This video demonstrates how Ideate BIMLink can be used to create and manage the unique type, component, and space naming requirements mandated by this COBie specification.

A typical COBie project will require at least (4) iterations:

For 35% Design Development

At 100% Construction Documentation

At the Beneficial Occupancy stage

Within the As-Built documents

That's a lot of data entry! Whether your renaming/renumbering task is driven by COBie or any other reason let Ideate BIMLink + Excel do the heavy lifting and put your architects and engineers onto higher order tasks.

About the Author

Glynnis Patterson, NCARB – Director of Software Development
Glynnis is a registered architect and has worked within the building information modeling (BIM) industry since 1998. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she has worked as an architect, educator and construction site manager. Glynnis is the Director of Software Development Services and continues to work with AECO clients worldwide, developing, and consulting on solutions to BIM challenges. In her spare time, Glynnis volunteers for the local high school and with growitgreenmorristown.org. Find Glynnis on LinkedIn.

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